New Translations: The Internet Reinvents Time

Much of the focus of the Web is innovation. New ways of communicating, relaying information and marketing are constantly being developed.

And with the Web, every part of the world is connected, at all times. People are constantly interacting across time zones.

Time itself is the focus of many websites, such as timeanddate.com, and many companies, such as those that provide document translation or design custom computer applications, need to be aware of the time where clients are located.

Swatch, a Swiss company, has introduced the .beat, an alternative to the seconds and hours we are all used to. This is intended to simplify the 24 hour, 60 minute per hour system that has defined time since antiquity.

Each day comprises 1000 beats, with the standard for the time based on a meridian drawn through Biel, Switzerland. The units equal to 1 .beat per 86.4 seconds, or 1 per 1.44 minutes.

In this new time format, various aspects of the Internet are reflected. Time after midnight is displayed as @100, if 100 .beats have passed after the clock has struck midnight. The @ symbol is found in many applications, specifically as part of messages communicated through the social media site Twitter.

The alternative time concept was introduced in 1998, and was used for educational purposes online. Up until 2001, there were watches capable of displaying time in the new format. The concept still exists, but the products no longer seem to be widely marketed as of 2012.

Will Internet Time Catch On?

Legal translation companies to software firms need to meet the immediate demands of clients in distant countries. If they use this new timing system, they would have to assume their counterparts understand it. Also, companies who serve other individuals and firms in various parts of the world should already have a system for managing workload in relation to local and foreign times.  

While the Internet time system simplifies time, and does away with accounting for time zones, it does contradict the time measuring method used by the whole world.

The new meridian is different from the one in Greenwich, England. Also, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is a universal system that has been in place for a long time, and already simplifies things in regards to time zones and daylight savings times.

However, as all innovative businesses benefit from keeping up on the latest technologies, people and organizations should always be on the lookout for new ideas to old concepts.

Although Internet time has not dominated the world over the past decade, many concepts of the online world take time. This has the potential to hold a following. We’ll wait and see.